• Kenya has reduced its response time to terror attack to under one hour.
• Matiang'i said al Shabaab should be classified as terrorist organisation.
There were no Kenyan casualties in the al Shabaab attack on a Kenyan-US military base in Lamu on Sunday, the government has said, contradicting some American officials.
The daring raid by the militant group was quickly repulsed by soldiers, but three Americans — one military service member and two contractors — died in the fierce gun battle.
Yesterday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Mataing’i said no Kenyan died during the combat, contradicting an influential US Senator who hinted that some Kenyans were killed.
Speaking to editors in his office, Matiang’i also said none of the terrorists who hit the military base left alive. On Sunday, the government announced that five militants were killed.
Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia later said five al Shabaab suspects were arrested and were being interrogated in relation to the the attack.
Matiang’i said Kenya has reduced its response time to terror attack to under one hour. “Even the ones who attacked the bus [in Lamu on Thursday], we cleared them within an hour,” a tough-talking Matiang’i said, warning terrorists they will not hit Kenya and escape alive.
“It’s going to be painful.”
US Senator Jim Risch (Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman) had earlier claimed that some Kenyans were also killed alongside three Americans.
“I am saddened to learn that American and Kenyan lives were lost during a heinous terrorist attack on a Kenya-US operating base early this morning,” tweeted the Republican senator from Idaho.
Besides the three US officials who died, United States Africa Command also confirmed two of its Department of Defence personnel were wounded in the attack. Some six civilian-operated aircraft was also partly damaged.
Matiang’i said Kenya is building a massive surveillance system with technological finesse. He was flanked by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and DCI boss George Kinoti.
The CS urged Kenyans to be alert and report any suspicious individuals to the police. He, however, regretted that the US and other superpowers had declined to classify al Shabaab as a terror group.
“Monica and I were in the US and we have tried to persuade our friends that these criminals must be listed as a terrorist organisation… That way, we would be able to decimate this group. The truth is, these criminals are not a missionary organisation,” he stated.
Kenya has been advocating for the UN to list the group as a terror group under Security Council Resolution 1267. However, humanitarian lobbies and diplomats have warned the UN against adding al Shabab to the same sanctions list as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, saying it could cripple the delivery of aid in Somalia.